r motivation, brother! stay out of trouble. alright, man? hey, see that? these guys, those guys are going to go home today, they're going to talk good things about us. >>two three four five. (vo)across town, unit 30 are doing some bonding of their own. in the spirit of all for one and one for all, the team are serving out the rookie's punishment together. it seems that dave has finally brothers. >>nobody here from 20, right? >>yes sir. >>remember that. >>yes sir. >>what's this, 13? >>the other guys, they rip on me a lot, and they might make fun of me, but i know deep down that if they didn't like me, they probably wouldn't even talk to me whatsoever. so that just, it actually builds a lot of camaraderie, it builds a lot more trust, and i'm sure as my tenure starts to grow here, i'll be able to, to hit back a little bit too. it's a great feeling to know that, when you come to work, you're not really going to work, you're going to go hang out with a bunch of your

buddies, and that's just something that i really appreciate. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. welcome to the "full court press" on this tuesday january 29. so good to see you today. thank you for joining us for our little roundup of all the news of the day. whether it's happening here in our nation's capital that's where we are, capitol hill.

washington, d.c. what's happening around the country or around the globe. we'll bring it all to you and give you a chance to sound off by giving us a call on our toll free number at 1-866-55-press and how about it. the big news, eight senators, four democrats four republicans, unveiling a bold, new, comprehensive immigration reform package yesterday including a path to citizenship which is good news. we need it. we should have done it a long time ago. the bad news is we're only doing it today because republicans lost their shirt in the last election. question, should we be doing immigration reform only to help republicans? nah, i don't think so. all right, into that and a whole mess of other issues but first here we get the latest, today's current news update, lisa ferguson standing by in our studios in los angeles. good morning lisa. >> hey bill, good morning everyone. today, president obama unveils

his own new plan for immigration reform he's speaking in las vegas at 11:55 this morning and we're expecting this to be a more liberal plan than the blueprint the senate laid out yesterday. as bill mentioned a group of eight bipartisan senators have been work behind closed doors and finally released their new plan yesterday on capitol hill. some three basic bullet points from that plan, it would provide a path to probationary legal status for most of the country's 11 million illegal immigrants provided they do not have a criminal background. it would also call for a way to it's allow low-skilled immigrants like farm workers to enter the country but only when the economy is good and the details on how it would exactly go about that are still a bit fuzzy. it would call for a mandatory system to check whether employees are authorized to work in the united states. something like this already exists but it's not widely used. president obama plans on praising all of those proposals today.

but he wills go a step further. now, what he's looking for is a more straightforward path to citizenship and what i mentioned earlier with the senate's plan, theirs would be more of a probationary method. today's announcement is the kickoff for the administration's push on immigration reform. we're back after the break. stay with us. i want the people who watch our show, to be able to come away armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. but it's also about telling them, you're put on this planet for something more. i want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. an impact that gets people to take action themselves. as a human being, that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: chuck schumer says he wants an apology from beyonce. he hired her to sing, not to lip-synch. lots of luck with that. good morning everybody. what do you say?

happy tuesday. here we go. january 29. off and running this tuesday morning with the "full court press." how about it. and great to see you today. coming to you live from our nation's capital, washington d.c. it has warmed up a little bit here in our nation's capital. we are very excited to see you today on a big big january 29 with lots to talk about. coming to you live from our nation's capital in our studio on capitol hill and booming out to you all across this great land of ours from -- on your local progressive talk radio station, on sirius x.m. this hour only and all three hours also on current tv. so you can listen, you can watch, you can participate and you know how to do it. on the phone 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. on twitter at bpshow. on facebook.

facebook.com/billpressshow. join the crowd. i always tell you what you have to say about these issues is just as important as what i or any of our guests have to say so we want to hear from you and want you to take over the program. it's quite all right with us. we'll just let team press will stand aside, let you take over. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey hey. >> bill: you would be glad to have people do your job. >> absolutely. >> bill: warming up a little bit here. >> you know, the weather in d.c. -- it's biblical. >> bill: 2 degrees to tomorrow's supposed to be 60. >> i think a high of 70 on thursday. then on thursday, a high of 70 then it drops down to 43 on friday or something like that. >> a quick 12 hour warm front blowing through. >> that's supposed to happen. a 30-degree difference day to day. >> bill: one day it's supposed to be like northern minnesota and the next day it is supposed

to be like miami. >> that seems totally normal. >> bill: normal weather. >> god. >> bill: phil backert has the phones by the way. cyprian bolds -- he came to work today? >> he did. believe it or not. >> bill: videographer is actually here today. >> it's true. >> bill: do you realize what today is? today is cyprian's birthday. ♪ here's your birthday song, it doesn't last too long ♪ ♪ hey! ♪ >> bill: who knew that john boehner was such a good friend of cyprian's. >> happy birthday, cyprian! >> we still won't let him talk though. >> bill: what time is the cake arriving? i ordered it. >> did you? with the little person inside of it that's going to pop out? >> bill: don't give away any secrets. >> i'm sorry. >> bill: big celebration -- not a birthday but a big celebration at the white house yesterday. president obama doing one of the things he loves doing welcoming

the champs, the nba champs, the miami heat to the east room of the white house. he said, you know, you guys, you have plea -- me to thank. >> obama: a few of them were here a couple of years ago for a pickup game on my birthday. i'm not trying to take all the credit, coach but i think it's clear that going up against me prepared them -- [ laughter ] -- to take on durand westbrook. it sharpened their skills. it gave them the competitive edge that they needed. and i think part of the reason they came back today is they want another shot at the old guy. [ laughter ] >> bill: another shot at the old guy. in fact, dwyane wade says how about joining us here? >> all i got to say is we got a contract left. pick my man up. >> you guys could use a shooter. >> a point guard. >> thank you.

>> you guys could use a shooter. [ laughter ] >> bill: that's funny. >> this is obama's final term as president. once he's done, he could get back out on the court. >> bill: yeah, he could. >> get him out on the court. >> bill: hey we have a great line-up for you today including two top united states senators. senator dick durbin from illinois and senator jeff merkley rising star from -- what am i saying? oregon. i knew it started with an o and igor volsky will be here from the center for american progress. thinkprogress here as he is every tuesday morning. the boy scouts may be coming out of their tent. you won't believe it. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday barbara walters, she fell and hurt herself over inauguration weekend and ended up in the hospital. turns out it was something bigger. abc reports it is a case of delayed childhood.

the 83-year-old "view" cohost has the chickenpox. she never had it as a child. one in 10,000 adults go et it reach year. she's off work for several weeks and is not allowed visitors because she's still contagious. >> bill: it is scary when you get chickenpox as an older person, as a senior. >> how old is she? >> 83. >> how do you go 83 years and never have chickenpox? >> bill: did she ever have kids? >> i don't think she did. that's a good point. >> bill: because we know we get all of our diseases from our kids. >> we had the chickenpox, i had it when i was a kid. >> bill: so did i but some people do not. >> a majority of professional football players do not like the guy who runs their league. even though the nfl is the most lucrative and popular sport in the nation. 61% of players disapprove the job that roger goodell is doing

in a new "usa today" poll. many respondents indicate he's much more about money than he is about player safety. >> bill: i see stories -- i'm about how unpopular he is. >> they hate him. >> speaking of people, the people hate, casey anthony has filed for bankruptcy. and she's looking for a job. the 27-year-old who was acquitted of murdering her daughter in 2011 has over $800,000 in legal bills and because she hasn't worked in four years she can't afford to pay them. but her attorney tells abc she wants to get a job. it's just virtually impossible because of who she is and her background story. she apparently wants to become a paralegal. she became so familiar with the legal system during her trial that she now wants to work in it. >> bill: you know, she and the octomom, they ought to be the first two people on mars or something. out of sight.

dan, thank you. yes, indeed. it was like a nuclear bomb cropped yesterday. nobody saw this coming. suddenly the boy scouts, the boy scouts who have been this homophobic organization their entire existence the boy scouts who took their pledge and their opposition to allowing gay scouts or gay scout leaders all the way to the supreme court in the year 2001, the right to discriminate the supreme court upheld the right to discriminate, the boy scouts who as recently as last july, reaffirmed their policy, no way no how any gays or lesbians -- some troops allow girls. but no gays. as recently as last july. reaffirmed that policy. yesterday, they announced they

were considering changing course. they haven't done it yet. but the national board is going to meet next week and on their agenda is changing their policy to accept gay scouts and gay scout leaders. now, it's not as good as it sounds because first of all it hasn't happened yet. number one. thicked vote the other way -- they could vote the other way. the fact that they're even considering changing the policy again after taking it all the way to the supreme court is stunning. and also they would not put out that they're considering changing it if they didn't think probably that's going to happen. but the other thing that's not so good about this is the way they're planning on doing it is to say okay, at a national level, we accept now we're willing to accept, we will open the boy scouts up to gay scout leaders and boy scouts.

but every troop every region, every council every troop every troop sponsor can decide what their policy is going to be in that particular region or city or church or troop. so in other words it's up to the locals to decide. you don't have to go along with the national policy but if you do go along with the national policy it's okay. or if you don't it's okay. what do you think about this? 1-866-55-press. some reaction came in yesterday right away. zack walz is head of a group -- he's a former eagle scout. he's head of a group called scouts for equality. likes the policy. >> it is fund-raising -- with this proposed policy, i think it is going to be good not just for scouting but for the entire

country. >> bill: good for scouting, good for the entire country. he does point out it had hurt their fund-raising because a lot of organizations and commercial sponsors dropped out of supporting the boy scouts because they don't allow -- because of their anti-gay policy. a lot of parents have dropped out, too. and members right have dropped out. >> i'm one of them. i made it to a star in high school. i was a star scout. when i learned more about -- i was becoming a young man at that point and really learning about their policies and that they were excluding gays and i said see ya later. i quit. >> we did a similar thing with our 7-year-old last year. he was in the boy scouts and we said no more. >> bill: the fact is the policy -- the policy's wrong and it teaches kids to discriminate. it teaches kids it is okay to discriminate. but what i don't like about it, first of all some of the reaction. in fact, this is what i don't like about it. this guy albert moeller is the

head of the southern baptist theo logic seminary. >> get ready for some unbiased opinions here. >> bill: apparently southern baptist church has sponsored more boy scout troops than anybody else, right? they think this is terrible because their faith tells them that homosexuality is a sin. here's mr. moeller. >> i think it will be a very dangerous thing for the boy scouts of america, disastrous for the organization because it will add a very significant question mark in the minds of parents and their sons about the nature of any given boy scout troop. >> bill: no, no, no. what it should do is add a question about the constitution of the united states and whether we're really living up to the promise of equality. that's the question. but again mr. moeller says why are they doing this after the supreme court gave them the right to discriminate? >> the boy scouts went all the

way to the u.s. supreme court in order to win a victory for their right to hold to those policies and now under political pressure and public pressure, they seem to be ready to give that away. >> bill: he says, this is, of course, here we go, the catholic bishops could not have said it better. they'll probably put out the same statement today. this is immoral. >> they're making a moral decision. there are many americans including especially christian americans and especially churches that have sponsored boy scout troops who believe that homosexuality is a sin. >> bill: damn, it we want to discriminate! as a church, we do discriminate. we want every institution -- they also want the government to discriminate -- but they want every other institution and every other organization to discriminate as well. you know what? not the boy scout's job. absolutely. so i commend the boy scouts for at least opening the door to this. but i think it is a big mistake to say okay, on the national level, we're going to say it's

okay for gays, gay scouts and gay scout leaders. but on the local level, you can continue to discriminate. you can continue to close the door. you can continue to say that among boy scouts, homosexuality is a sin. you know what it's like? it's like saying okay, slavery is wrong but you can still do it in mississippi if that's what you want, right? didn't we kind of go through this kind of logic here at one time? you know? that's why you have the supreme court. that's why national policies. it is either right or it's wrong. if it's right then everybody ought to abide by that policy. if it's wrong you shouldn't be able to do it in one state but not in another state. >> that's a good point. this is not a drastic change. this is not some major change in leadership from the boy scouts. this was basically saying we

don't want to ruffle too many feathers so we're going to back off of it a little bit. you guys can keep on practices hate if you want to. we're totally fine with that. >> bill: we can have our cake and eat it, too. >> exactly. we can look good by changing the policy but we'll let all of the other people continue to discriminate. doesn't fool me. you know all the way all or nothing here. 1-866-55-press. no half-ass boy scout change. 1-866-55-press. just get rid of the discrimination anti-gay policy. it's the wrong policy for this country and for the boy scouts. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour now. boy scouts shaking it up yesterday. saying they're considering changing their national policy and allowing gays -- scout leaders and scouts to participate in the organization. but if the locals want to continue to discriminate, it is okay with them. you can't have it both ways. 1-866-55-press. what do you say? peter, what's going on before we go to the phones? >> i had to get this story in because a lot of people are talking about this on twitter. it is a great story. you remember tom tancredo, republican from colorado. he ran for president. he was a member of congress. >> bill: as crazy as a alone. >> he's certifiably insane. >> bill: fun guy. sort of a friend of mine but still crazy.

>> he's a wildcat. he fought for immigration reform that was not anything that anybody's talking about now. it was way far beyond actual reform. >> bill: send them all back on buses. he said recently, because he's from colorado. colorado recently voted to legalize marijuana for use. he said if it passed, he would smoke a joint for the first time in his life. he had never smoked pot. he said he would smoke pot now if it passed. well, it passed. and somebody came back to him and said hey, we want to hold you to that bet. it is time for you to smoke pot. he said i will. i will smoke a joint. that lasted for about a day. then the next day he had to say i'm going to have to step away from my bet. i'm not going to be able to fulfill it. his wife got really pissed at him. she said you have grandkids now and what kind of example do you think you're setting for your grandkids so he is not going to smoke marijuana as he promised

in a bet. >> bill: what a wimp. >> totally wimped up. >> bill: the example you set for your grandkids is you obey the law. the law allows you to smoke pot. therefore i'm a law-abiding citizen. robert from marlboro, massachusetts. >> caller: good morning. >> bill: what do you think? >> caller: well, obviously the scouts, they go through a background check to be a scoutmaster. and i think exposing the youth to an alternative lifestyle will be a good thing. progressive and positive. you know, allowing gay men to become scoutmasters and active in the troops and -- will be a good thing. >> bill: what do you think if mississippi or missouri or tennessee still wants to have no gays allowed, you can have boy scouts following that policy. >> well, i hope not. you're dealing with a part of the country that just hasn't caught up on progressive

agendas. >> bill: you know what? maybe they ought to catch up with the constitution and the declaration of independence and what america is all about. it's not right to discriminate against anybody for any reason. period. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." hand of government" ... i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really? you're going to lay people off because now the government is going to help you fund your healthcare. really? i want to have those conversations, not to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying, and i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at billpressshow at current.com. >> bill: 33 minutes now after the hour on the "full court press." this tuesday morning january 29 welcome. good to see you. we're coming to you from our nation's capital. our studio on capitol hill in

washington, d.c. brought to you today by the united steelworkers and their colorful outspoken international president. got a piece up on "huffington post" this morning about taxes and the aversion to paying taxes among americans. i'm talking about the one and only leo gerard. the united steelworkers. north america's largest industrial union representing over 1.2 million active and retired members. we find out more about their good work at their web site, usw.org. we recommend keeping up to date on what's going on here in our nation's capital and around the country on the big issues of the day. market book bookmark it, thinkprogress.com. igor volsky is here with us every tuesday morning. >> thank you. in fact, if you make it your home page, you can go there

automatically every day. >> bill: make it your home page. >> everyone who listens or watches this show, their home page is billpressshow.com already. >> stick them in safari. >> bill: there it is. so igor, it looks like immigration reform may actually happen this year, right? >> there may be some momentum and the reason is republicans want to win elections. they say that quite blatantly reason number one is we have to make sure we don't become minority parties as the demographics change and reason number two is we have to bring 11 million people out of the shadows. reason number one, if we want to remain viable, we have to get this done. >> bill: no doubt. that's why the chances have improved for immigration reform. i'm all for immigration reform. i've been fighting for immigration reform for the last 20 years at least. but damn it, why do it now just to help republicans? i don't want them to win any

elections. >> that's going to be the big kind of pull and tug as you now saw the gang of eight come out yesterday, lay out the principles ahead of the president. he's in vegas laying out his plan. >> bill: today. >> we're going to have to see how they play this out because you're right the president democrats will want credit for if it happens or the ability to blame the other side if it doesn't. there are a lot of die nammics to work out in terms of who gets what. >> bill: i do think it's worth pointing out that you know, yes republicans will very likely, they'll come up with a bill that republicans can support. it will have bipartisan support. the president will sign the bill. he'll have -- god forbid, john mccain and lindsey graham there and marco rubio or whatever. but in the end the president gets the credit. it is his administration. his legacy. he signs the bill. so -- >> can we call it obama-ration

across the nation. >> bill: of course there weren't any republicans for reform. no matter what happens republicans will get most of the credit. but as you point out one of the arguments that has always been made and is still made today. i saw today not all republicans will go along with this. there will be some already some opposition saying we need to secure the border! that's what we need to do. forget about these 11 million people here who are illegal. we have to stop this porous border. what's the truth about that? >> the entire plan is contingent on the border. it says you -- once this thing passes, if you look at the principles, these eight laid out, almost immediately the 11 million undocumented get this probationary status. they can work legally, they won't be harassed. for a green card, for any kind of permanent legal status, that's contingent on border security. if certain benchmarks are met --

>> bill: my point is the border is already more secure. >> what's the status of the border. since 2007, the last time we had this debate, the border security has increased dramatically. we're spending about $18 billion enforcing the border, far more than any agency combined. >> bill: we have more agents, more drones. >> more technology. the majority areas of the border are significantly secure. so there are still some porous zones that could be beefed up certainly but it is not as if we have the open border, people coming in and coming out. it's gotten a lot better. so that's the question. how much -- how much time are we going to devote to this issue and is it really -- going to be an excuse to kind of deny the pathway to citizenship because for the hard line conservatives will it ever be secure enough? >> bill: we remember in 2007 i guess it was that the hard line conservatives through radio talk shows, came out. people pouring out into the

streets and opposing this legislation and they -- it was backed by senate leadership, trent lott, george bush. president bush. and they shot it down. i don't know what they're going to do this time. >> you see rubio making all the rounds and all of the conservative talk shows. they all give him the space to explain his proposal. they praise him. people like mark he levine praise him say let's look at the principles. part of the reason is rubio is a rising star. they don't want to get in front of that train. the future of their party. so it's helping that he's pushing this along. he's kind of steam rolling against some of the opposition. of course, you have the demographics problem which republicans need to get around. >> bill: well, they've got marco rubio. we've got the castro brothers, right? >> yeah, from texas. >> bill: the mayor and the congressman. your thoughts about this, 1-866-55-press. no doubt, it is the issue that's got a full head of steam right

now with the gang of eight coming out yesterday in the united states senate for -- four democrats, four republicans. with president obama going out to las vegas today to make a speech outlining his proposals -- peter, you were saying earlier his already differ a little bit from the senate version. >> yeah, they are reports from a source in the senate and "buzzfeed" is including this. chris geithner talked about that obama will include same-sex couples in his immigration plan that he will be pushing today. one democratic source said same-sex couples will be part of the proposal. in other words, how this works is same sex binational couples those with one american and one foreign partner, will be included in what obama talks about. that's going to be part of the white house push. >> bill: what does this do for then igor volsky, deputy editor of think progress, what does this do for the whole emphasis last week on gun control and gun

violence? that's what we talked about last week. now -- the president did hold a meeting at the white house yesterday. it hasn't entirely disappeared. it will take a backseat to imgreat lakes reform. yes, no? >> in terms of gun safety, you don't have really the votes right away that you can see for things like assault weapons ban limiting the magazine size. you're going too have hearings on guns on wednesday i believe in the senate tomorrow. >> bill: right. >> so that issue is moving but it looks like we're going to do immigration first and then guns in terms of order. >> i do like how you were talking about okay, republicans have finally realized they can do something on immigration. obama sort of raising them just a little bit by saying okay, we can do immigration reform and we'll include the lgbt community into it. now what are they going to do? how are republicans going to handle that? >> it is details they'll have to work out. this gang of eight -- we know

that republicans did not want to include the lgbt component to it. it is going to be -- there's going to be parts both sides don't like. they're going to have to work it out. hopefully you're going to see the lgbt amendment stay in it. with doma, of course, potentially being struck down by the supreme court, this is an issue that may resolve itself. >> bill: think progress is also reporting that there is a republican congressman mo brooks from alabama who has offered up a constitutional amendment which says that if the president fails to balance the budget he will be -- he or she will be impeached. >> yes get out. of course, the ryan budget didn't balance for 30 years. he's going to unveil, more radical budget in ten years. so he can be president i guess. yeah, i mean look, republicans are going to continue playing these games. of course, look, it can only balance with cuts. it cannot balance with new

revenue, either closing the loopholes which they're now against. during romney's time, let's close the loopholes now. ryan doesn't want to hear about it. no higher rates at all. you can only do spending cuts if you take medicare, medicaid, social security, all of the programs americans rely on and flood them. that's what they're there for. >> bill: so ronald reagan, eight years never balanced the budget. george h.w. bush, four years never balanced the budget. bill clinton did. george w. bush, eight years never balanced the budget. where was the call for all of the impeachment calls then? >> maybe it's not such a bad idea. maybe he's on to something. we got rid of all of those presidents. >> bill: yeah, except -- never a peep. such hypocrites. of course -- there are enough republicans who say we can't do this because it might come back and bite us in the ass.

>> the next president. >> bill: they're not going to do it. igor volsky is here from think progress. talking immigration reformer and other issues. 1-866-55-press is the toll free number. join our conversation any time. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

(vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: here we go. 13 minutes now before the top of the hour. coming up a little bit later

senator jeff merkley from oregon and senator dick durbin from illinois. both joining us here on today's edition of the "full court press." back to our conversation with igor volsky who is the deputy editor for think progress. back to your calls at 1-866-55-press. first, for those of you in this economy, still hurting still having a hard time make ends meet at the end of each month, let me suggest you might look into incomeathome.com. you've heard me talk about them before. they're america's leading work from home business. doing business in over 80 countries today. they know what they're doing. they're offering you an opportunity. you can easily take advantage of no matter your age education or experience. you can literally earn money on your own computer from your own kitchen table 24/7. but of course, can't do it unless you check in and sign up. put some of the extra time into some little bit of training and then you're off and running.

so if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worry about the job security or retirement if your goal has always been to earn some extra money from home part-time or full time, incomeathome.com. they're even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. that somebody could be you. visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. igor, welcome back. peter, what's happening? >> we're tweeting at bpshow. >> bill: social media front. >> at bp show is where you can find us on twitter. talking about the boy scouts earlier and their decision to possibly possibly change their policy. clay g. says i'm sure there's something in the boy scouts about being leaders. except for when it comes to their own policies. find us at bpshow. >> bill: yeah, i mean look, i was in the boy scouts. i think the idea that an

organization like that would thrive on teaching kids to discriminate against other americans just simply based on their sexual orientation is fundamentally wrong. and allowing the idea that you would change the national policy will allow locals still to discriminate half ass at best. don's calling from nashua, new hampshire, on immigration reforges i believe right? hey, don. >> caller: good morning, bill. how is it going? >> bill: going great. thanks for joining us. what's up? >> caller: i just have one problem with this bill. they say that they want the immigrants to pay back taxes and everything but how can they pay back taxes when they even hardly make a decent wage as it is? >> bill: that's a good point. i don't know that back tax -- back taxes included in this? >> they'll have to pay back taxes. >> bill: for how many years? >> that's one of the details that has to be worked out. not only do they have to pay

back taxes they have to prove they've been employed and with undocumented immigrants where there's little documentation available, it is unclear if that's a burden they'll be able to meet. >> bill: yeah. donna, you raise a very good point. i think that could really be a problem. certainly, a lot of these people particularly those at the lower end who are doing landscaping, washing dishes in restaurants, busing tables or whatever or child care, they don't have that kind of job documentation. plus they have been paying taxes. they've been paying sales taxes. >> that's right. presumably those jobs, if their income doesn't meet the threshold of the bottom income bracket, they'll be exempt. >> bill: talk about unfair exception here. so how about if you go back and make some american citizens pay the back taxes that they didn't pay, particularly the wealthiest of americans or the ones that they cheated on, right, like maybe let's start with mitt

romney who only paid 14%. they're going to take it out instead on people who are not even citizens? i don't know. it is crazy. a couple of other stories, think progress has been reporting on. i wanted to ask you about. the texas legislature -- you don't expect the most progressive legislation to come out of texas right? we don't really. but this really goes -- kind of so far in the opposite direction. they want to reward companies for denying their employees access to contraceptions. >> yeah, it's really something you have about maybe 60 lawsuits going on right now with religious organizations saying we're not gonna meet the requirement of obama care to provide a whole range of women's health services including contraception because it violates our religious beliefs. regardless of the fact that these organizations employ kind of a mix of people. and it is strange for an

employer to pick and choose what they think their employee deserves. so hobby lobby which is a chain out in the west, a craft store has really been fighting this and saying we're not going to do it. they've lost certain decisions in court. they still insist you're not going to get us to provide this birth control. texas has a new idea. hobby lobby would have to pay a fine if it doesn't provide contraception. so a new bill says we'll make it up to you by giving you state tax credits so that on that, you're not penalized at all for violating the law. >> bill: so the citizens of texas -- >> will subsidize again another form of discrimination. >> oh, my god. that's so crazy. >> bill: i just wonder -- >> that kind of spending is okay. >> bill: that kind of spending is okay. i wonder why the citizens of texas don't rise up and revolt

against the legislature? and their governor. i'm sure rick perry likes this. >> i'm sure he does. >> think about what they're saying. they'll pay to -- okay. >> bill: we'll pay you to break the law. we'll use our tax dollars and pay you for breaking the law. oh man. only in texas. >> only in texas. >> bill: probably not only in texas. good stuff igor, as always. go to thinkprogress.org folks. make it one of your home pages. how's that? thanks again. good to see you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

i want the people who watch our show, to be able to come away armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion.

>> take your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey how about this from kitty martin out in san francisco. she wants us to know she's a huge fan of the show. listens every morning. and she also wants us to know that neil king who was our guest yesterday, as a "friend of bill" from the "wall street journal," she thinks he has the sexiest voice in the whole world. totally made her morning. and if he's not married she kitty says she's a beautiful single 49-year-old female from san francisco. how about it! it's the dating game here. match them up here. you know, michael tomasky. he gets the ladies. now neil king. >> we should point out that neil king is happily married.

>> bill: he is happily married. it is nice to get those compliments, don't you think? even married men like that. >> you could say something to me and bill every now and then. >> bill: what are we? chicken soup?

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. welcome to the "full court press" here this tuesday morning. january 29. here on current tv. coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. bringing up to date on the news

of the day and of course, look forward to hearing from you. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. the boy scouts really shook it up yesterday. announcing that they are considering changing their anti-gay policy. haven't decided it yet. they will decide next week. but not as good as it sounds because even if they change their national policy, they will still allow local speech, local scout troop to make up its own mind whether it wants to admit gay scouts and gay scout leaders or not. that's dumb! that's wrong. if discrimination is wrong which it is, it is wrong for everybody. locals should not be allowed to discriminate. that's one of the big topics we're following this morning. that and a whole lot more. first we take a minute out to get the latest. standing by with today's current news update out of our studio in los angeles, here's lisa ferguson early. good morning to you, lisa. >> hey bill, good morning

everyone. more aid is likely in store for the victims of superstorm sandy. just last night the senate approved another $50.5 billion in emergency relief funds for the east coast. it's been a full three months since sandy hit the country. president obama initially requested an aid package worth about $60 billion. house republicans said that was just too much. congress essentially then split that bill into two portions. $9 billion worth of aid that passed earlier this month and the $51 billion the senate approved last night. that money will help fund a range of relief proms like restocking food banks and soup kitchens repairing visitor's centers and public transit and providing grants to homeowners and businesses. the bill is now on the president's desk and he is expected to sign it. new financial disclosures show chuck hagel made more than $1 million last year serving on different boards and organizations. hagel, as you know, now the nominee for the next secretary of defense the former senator brought in anywhere from

$100,000 to $200,000 from his various posts including teaching at georgetown university and serving on the advisory board of the polling firm gallup. he also owns a big chunk of stock in chevron but along with disclosing those funds he's also promised to resign his post and divest his stock. more bill up next. honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: chuck schumer says he wants an apology from beyonce. he didn't hire her he says, to lip-synch. he hired her to sing. good luck with that, chuc schumer. you may have a better chance of

getting your immigration bill passed. it is the "full court press." on this tuesday january 29. warmed up a little bit here in our nation's capital. but rain snow, sleet or shine we come to you here with the news of the day on the "full court press." great to see you today. coming out to you to every corner of this great land of ours on your local progressive talk radio station. how lucky you are if you've got one. or on current tv. we'll let you know what's going on around the country around the globe and give you a chance to comment either by phone at 1-866-55-press, that is our toll free number. or join us on twitter at bp show. or join us on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. then there is this chat room going on every morning. followers of the show both radio and tv. if you go to current tv and click on the chat room, you are

in and you can be debating the issues that we're talking about on the air. among yourselves. it is a lot of fun. we'll follow your comments in the chat room as well. joining us for this half hour to talk about the news, particularly here on capitol hill and the congress, sabrina is the congressional correspondent, political correspondent on the hill for "huffington post." nice to see you. >> nice to see you, too. thank you for having me. >> bill: early this morning. i like your sweater. >> thank you. i thought i would try to add color on a gloomy morning. >> bill: we all need it, obviously. >> i like it. >> bill: joining team press here, peter ogborn and dan henning. hello, guys. >> hey. >> good morning. >> bill: ready to go. >> i almost wore that same exact sweater. >> next time we should coordinate. >> bill: phil backert has the phones and the birthday boy. >> that's right! it is his birthday. old man. >> happy birthday! him and paul ryan both. >> bill: is this paul ryan's

birthday? >> i believe today is paul ryan's birthday. >> john boehner lobbies is i today. >> the birthday song. ♪ this is your birthday song ♪ ♪ it doesn't last too long, hey ♪ >> the full version. [ applause ] >> is that on cue? ♪ this is your birthday song ♪ ♪ it doesn't last too long, hey ♪ happy birthday, ralph. there it is. >> bill: cyprian bowlding otherwise known as ralph. we call him ralph. boehner, drunk this early in the morning. so before we get into the news of the day you know, last week, president obama -- in his interview, i forget which

interview, with steve croft or with the new republic? >> i think it was with the new republic. >> bill: yeah. he was asked about football and about the violence of football. he said that if he had a son, he would have to think long and hard about allowing him to play football. because he's really concerned about the violence. yesterday, ed reed who is with the ravens and looking forward to the super bowl this weekend was asked about the president's comment. i think reporters expected him to say no! it's okay, whatever. didn't go there. >> president obviously has a bunch of feelings about it. i mean i'm sure he's a sports man. he watches sports. honestly i agree with him. i agree with president obama. until they fix the system. >> bill: dangerous sport. here you've got two little boys. >> i've got two boys. >> bill: would you let them play high school football? >> in full disclosure, they both suck at sports. we've only tried soccer and

basketball. we haven't tried football. i have no reservations about letting them play football. >> bill: really? >> i hope they don't listen to the show though. >> i would never let them listen. their dad is telling everyone that they suck at sports. >> they don't listen. >> bill: we'll get into the what's happening on the hill here with sabrina from "the huffington post." a big line-up coming up as well. senator jeff merkley from oregon will be here in studio with us. senator dick durbin will be joining us as well as eleanor smeal who is head of the feminist majority here to talk about women in combat. all of that coming up. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday. ashton kutcher went to great lengths to portray steve jobs in the upcoming bio pic. "usa today" reports kutcher landed in the hospital two days before they were scheduled to

start filming last year because he put himself on the same all fruit diet that the late apple founder supposedly was on. he said his pancreas levels went crazy so he had to go back to a more normal diet before he began shooting the movie. that comes out in april. >> i call b.s. by the way. eating too healthy? >> all fruit though? no protreen. no veggies? >> bill: steve jobs was a brilliant guy but he was -- look how thin he was. not eating healthy. >> donald trump recently leased the famous old post office pavilion here in washington. he's going to revamp it into a hotel. politico reports he asked the district of columbia for a massive tax break to facilitate the redevelopment. the mayor here and the city council said no! he's gotta pay up and when leased to a private entity, the d.c. government is allowed to

tax it and they won't give that up for trump. >> bill: you know what? it amazes me he would do that because trump's style is to build the biggest building in town. he cannot in washington, d.c., have any building higher than the capitol dome. he's not going to be able to do a trump tower. >> just redoing the old post office pavilion. >> bill: i hope it fails. >> former congressman barney frank is on to his next project. massachusetts democrat is heading to the stage this coming weekend. a pulitzer prize-winning musical about new york city la guardia. barney frank will pay an outspoken conservative senator in the production at the new york city center on saturday. >> bill: it will be a one-night appearance by barney but the big news for barney is this week john kerry will be confirmed by the senate. this week, the governor is going to appoint whoever will fill in the senate seat, john kerry's

senate seat until june 25 when the special election -- of course barney has said he wants it. i think he ought to get it, too. i think it would be great. they're going to be dealing with all of the fiscal cliff issues. right, sabrina? because the debt ceiling might -- they kind of -- escaped armageddon over the debt ceiling but it's going to come sometime between now and june, correct? >> yes. absolutely. they're already going to deal with this sequester-related cuts on march 1st. the expiration of the cr at the end of march and then the debt ceiling may 1st i believe. so a lot of looming fiscal deadlines will be the next big thing. >> bill: if republicans agreed not to push for the massive spending cuts to social security and medicare for -- as a price for increasing the debt ceiling they're going to come back, right, with those same demands. at the next round.

>> i don't think those demands are going away. part of the point of the short-term debt ceiling extension just passed last week was sort of to try and leverage their position in the sequester-related discussion of $1.2 trillion of autoic spending cuts set to kick in on march 1st which are delayed two months with the fiscal cliff deal. they're hoping to extract spending cuts from president obama. if not that fight, then in the next debt ceiling fight the next debt ceiling fight. the demand nor spending cuts isn't going to go anywhere. >> bill: barney frank, he would be fired up, ready to go. he knows she is issues. he knows the fiscal issues better than anybody else. >> deval patrick said he would be happy to have him. he didn't endorse it per se but he expressed sort of opens to the idea. >> wouldn't be a big learning curve for barney. >> bill: no, not at all. i think it would be very tough for governor patrick not to appoint him. i mean who else could step in and have all of the information

and all of the experience you need to really fight for the people. >> i was going to say -- >> bill: now, of course, so is it is sort of a relief the fiscal issues are out of the way and we can talk about something else like maybe immigration reform. very unusual to see these days eight senators, four from each party, agree on anything, correct? >> it is. >> bill: you cover the congress. you're there. >> i do. filibuster reform deal that killed filibuster reform. this is only case where you have a gang of eight. never have other names other than gang of six and gang of eight coming together and working out a comprehensive immigration reform proposal. in this case, i think they feel like with the election especially the momentum is now president obama democrats feel pressure to do something because they promised to do so in the first term and didn't make it a priority or deliver on it.

on the flip side, republicans lost a lot of ground with latino voters and they feel pressured with 2014 around the country. long-term plan for 2016 to do something to make inroads with the group with that group once again. so you have this immigration reform proposal, the broad principle line up with what president obama had been seeking as well. he is set to deliver a major policy speech today where he will essentially set out his own framework for immigration reform. a lot of it mirrors what's in this particular legislation that is introduced yesterday. >> bill: it was senator chuck schumer leading the charge here. the top democrat among this gang of eight. as he pointed out yesterday we talk about all -- often about these figures usually use 11 million. people who came here illegally or their parents did. they've been here a long time. they've got jobs. they're contributing to the community.

but their status is certainly uncertain. there is always this fear, you know, that something could happen to them. chuck schumer says on day one under this legislation, that would change. here he is. >> on day one of our bill, the people here without status, who are not criminals or security risks, will be able to live and work here legally. that will make it easier for them to learn english and integrate into their communities without fear of deportation. >> bill: or self-deportation maybe. but that in itself is a big change. it just puts that whole issue to rest. they don't automatically -- they can't apply until there's some assurance that the border is secure by this big commission they're going to appoint but at least they don't have to worry about the -- ins going to their door. >> absolutely. the pathway to citizenship is one of the biggest pieces of this proposal, especially because we talked about the pipp proposal and there has been opposition particularly among the republican party to possibly

to citizenship for undocumented immigrants which they consider amnesty and for people who are here quote-unquote legally, that was a concern. certainly among members of the right. it was a concern for marco rubio. now he's at the table with this group of bipartisan senators. clearly, there's been a change in thinking and like you said, it is not going to be easy. these people -- there has to be enforcement measures. border security and surveillance. then the people who are here with probationary legal status have to go back to the line, pay taxes, demonstrate a history of work in the united states so there are all sorts of hurdles to cross. then those who are present without lawful status, they receive a green card after all of the other individuals waiting in line for a green card have received one. but it's a big development. that is a big deal for members of both parties to have agreement on that. >> bill: as you pointed out president obama was speaking

about immigration reform today. two other issues i want to ask you about before we take a quick break here. so we talked earlier about scott brown and then barney frank and the senate seat. john kerry. pass the senate foreign relations committee flying colors before the full senate this week. no doubt -- >> no doubt. when the whole susan rice crusade was taking place among certain members of congress, republican senators, mccain and you know, kelly ayotte name floated by most was senator kerry. perfect nominee. >> bill: can't vote against him now. >> can't vote against him. >> bill: when do the chuck hagel hearings start? >> i believe they start -- is this week or next week. >> i think it's tomorrow, actually, the 30th. >> bill: they have a gun hearing tomorrow. >> they have a gun hearing tomorrow. there's a lot happening so

sometimes it is hard to keep track of. honestly, i was here another time on this show and right when the chuck hagel sort of drama began. but i still think that it's a lot of bluster. i also believe he will be confirmed. one of the interesting things is when you're on a lot of the sunday shows and you're watching the senators speak out against hagel or express their concerns, they always are reluctant to say they would vote against him. they wouldn't approve the nomination he wouldn't be confirmed. in fact, most will express their concerns and say but i think he will be confirmed. i don't think that democrats certainly would oppose president obama's nomination. i think he's coming off of re-election. would they really go against their own president. with republicans they have concerns but i don't think they stretch far enough to vote against a republican veteran with two purple hearts who is a long-term serving senator. it doesn't make sense. >> bill: immigration reform. john kerry. chuck hagel. 1-866-55-press.

lots on the table here this morning on the "full court press." is a -- sabrina from "the huffington post." we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

these talking points, that the right have, about the "heavy hand of government" ... i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really? you're going to lay people off because now the government is going to help you fund your healthcare. really? i want to have those

conversations, not to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying, and i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. the gang of eight. all over the place this morning. i see senator mccain and senator schumer on msnbc. we will have senator dick durbin from the gang of eight here in

our next segment. right now we're talking congressional action or inaction with sabrina from "the huffington post." peter, what's happening on the social media world? >> we're tweeting at bpshow. we're asking the question about why democrats should work with republicans to get immigration reform done now when it should have been done years ago. we're making it happen because republicans say it is time to get it done. barkway says immigration reform should have been done a long time ago. so should have healthcare, assault weapons ban jobs bill, the list goes on and on. mr. john john on twitter says what's the point of the democrats helping the lowlife republicans gain hispanic votes? you can find us on twitter at bpshow. >> bill: so immigration reform sabrina has really taken over. has it pushed gun control off the table or just on the back burner? >> i don't think either.

he's setting the tone that this needs to continue. what people are calling a gun show tour of sorts where he's going around and keeping the momentum going. president obama, too is going to reengage. he will continue to talk about it. >> bill: he did yesterday at the white house. >> he will continue to talk about it publicly in speeches and forums. he will bring it up, perhaps even in the state of the union and though not exclusively by referencing guns he even, during inauguration, brought up newtown and keeping children safe. there is a tone being set that keeps pressure that wasn't there before. and you have, of course, a lot of senators who have introduced various proposals to ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines both in the senate and the house. you have a lot of legislation that seeks to combat these issues. they continue to have briefings and press conferences to talk about it. it is whether they'll get it done, that's the real question. i think the comprehensive background checks is the lowest hanging fruit but assault

weapons ban reinstating that looks difficult. >> bill: we'll have to leave it there. thank you so much. great to meet you. thank you so much for coming in. good job you're doing covering congress. come back again and tell us how it's going. >> thank you for having me. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you bet. 33 minutes after the hour now. it is tuesday january 29. great to see you today. thank you for joining us on the "full court press" as we come to you live from our nation's capital. our studio here on capitol hill and brought to you today by the

laborer's international union of north america. good men and women under president terry o'sullivan building a better america. that's their web site. liuna.com liunabuilds america.org. bold, new comprehensive immigration reform. the outline of that legislation presented by a group of eight senators so-called gang of eight, four democrats, four republicans. and among the democrats on there, our good friend, a man working on this issue for many, many years. senator dick durbin, the assistant senate majority leader from the state of illinois joining us on our news line this morning. hey, senator good to talk to you. >> good talking to you, bill. how you been? >> bill: i've been good, thank you. haven't seen you in awhile. you've been working on this legislation. has the time finally arrived for immigration reform? >> you know, bill, if you're a

student of american history you get it. because people who come here, you name them, whether or not it's the irish the polish, the italians african-americans hispanics, they all go through the same, basic process. they come, they are part of the economy at the lower end of the rung. and then they start getting politically involved. when they get involved, when they start voting, when they show they're a potent political force, all of a sudden, they're taken more seriously. their concerns are addressed by congress. and that's exactly what's happening here. this last election where the president had such dramatic victory, everyone assumed african-americans would support him and they did of course. and everyone assumed hispanics would support him and they did. second to highest group you probably noticed in terms of voting for the president were asian americans. so we have now at this moment, the republicans finally realizing that two major forces,

growing portions of our economy hispanics and asian americans are going overwhelmingly to the democratic side. >> bill: which is why i've heard some democrats grumble. why should we do this now just to help the republicans? >> we ought to do it to help 11 million people who are living in the shadows. they're wonderful people. they're scared to death. knock on the door could tear a family apart. a child that they have in their household may never have a chance to have all of the opportunities in life because they're undocumented. you know that's why we need to do it. for pure politician -- politics, grind their nose in it, what do we have at the end? we have an awful lot of victims innocent people who deserve a better chance in life. >> bill: senator, what happens to those families on day one and then when can they actually move toward citizenship? >> here's the bottom line. we've agreed on a set of principles. now we have to write the bill. this is the tough part.

there will be elements here which won't be easy. what we envision is this. as soon as this bill is passed, we will set up an opportunity for the undocumented people in the country to come forward register with the government. at that point, they will go through a criminal background check. they will pay whatever fine is established in this law any taxes that is established that they owe. at that point establish that they have a job a means of income livelihood. then they are in a probationary legal status. there will never be a knock at the door. they'll be able to work in america. they'll be able to identify to their employees their actual identity. and then the process goes forward. the republicans, of course, have insisted from the beginning that we have border security. bill, you and i know we have invested more in that border, $18 billion. we spend more on border security than we do on the fbi the secret service and most federal law enforcement combined! >> bill: it is a lot more

secure than it's ever been. >> a lot more. there are certain limits to what you can do. they do smuggle contraband into prisons. you can't say this 2,000 mile border is never going to have an illegal person crossing. we're going to establish some metrics and standards so that we know that we're doing everything humanly possible to get the job done and stop illegal immigration and at that point the people that we're talking about move from probationary status into green card ultimately to citizenship. >> bill: and that test for citizenship is not going to be easy right? it's not going to be automatic. >> they have to speak english go through the same basic requirements to get a green card that we require our citizens in this country. people who want to go through naturalization. i'm sitting here in my office. i look over my right shoulder. there's my mother's naturalization certificate. she was an immigrant to this country brought in at the age of 2 from lithuania. and she went through the naturalization process. these people, who are in this

bill, we envision, will go through the same, basic process before they're given a green card. >> bill: now senator we remember this legislation before -- well, not this legislation but this issue has been before the senate before. it had bipartisan support and the republican kind of talk show hosts, right conservative talk show hosts were against it. they rallied their forces. and it was the right wing that destroyed this legislation. >> sure was. >> bill: are republicans going to be able to deliver the troops this time? >> bill, i don't know -- i don't listen to his show but i read in the paper this morning a quote from sean hannity who said he's now come around on the issue. >> bill: oh, my god. >> how about that, huh? >> bill: i'm going to have to take another look at it. >> it is time to examine -- to think i'm supporting something that sean is supporting. i was doing one of these spin

rooms after the debate in the presidential debates this last go around. hannity in the middle of one of the rooms trumpeted to me durbin romney is going to beat obama. it won't be close. i said you want to bet? i said sure. it won't be $10,000 but i'll bet. >> case of beer. i still need the case of beer from sean hannity bill. >> bill: we'll see what we can do about that. we'll put some pressure on him. >> please do. >> bill: nobody's closer to president obama than you are. first one to encourage him to run for president. the president is going to las vegas today to give his ideas on immigration reform. how close are they to what your group of senators has come up with? >> they're a lot closer to my point of view than what the group has come up with. we're dealing in the reality of a split congress. we know we need bipartisan support in the senate and of course, in the house. we have to give in areas we

ordinarily wouldn't give. i'm glad the president is setting the standard saying this is what he wants. my guess is that's what he wants, too. we'll have to make some compromises. i think we're on the right track though. most of the hispanic groups that we spoke to over the weekend when we briefed him were very positive. they've got questions and concerns but they feel like this is our chance. >> bill: we're talking with senator dick durbin, assistant senate majority leader about immigration reform. on another issue if i can ask you, senator two quick things. one is filibuster reform. you know, we thought this was a time when we were going to see mr. smith comes to washington, that whole thing come back, if you want a filibuster, you actually got to do it. you have to stand up and talk and we didn't get that far. are you satisfied with the filibuster reform we did get? >> i am for this reason. i've been in the senate. this is my 17th year. as an institution i think the way we resolved it was the right way. there's no question that we had the constitutional option, the

nuclear option, however you want to characterize it. we could have put vice president biden in the chair changed the rules we wanted to then we would have just seen a flat out full-scale face-to-face combat on the floor of the senate that would go on for months, maybe longer. that's not a healthy thing. it doesn't produce much. what we did was we said to the republicans we can do that. we would rather not. if you want to agree with us on a bipartisan approach to change the rules, let's sit down and talk. we did. getting to your point bill, you may not remember this. there's no reason why you would but a couple of years ago, we had unanimous consent on the floor to extend unemployment benefits. and all of a sudden, there was an objection from the republican side. i looked over. it was former senator jim bunning of kentucky. i object he said. so i stood up. i said you know, identified the senator for the record. i said i'm going to keep renewing that request every hour so senator bunning you better stay on the floor.

so that went on for hours. five, six hours, into the night. he got angrier and angrier. at one point he said listen, i'm missing the kentucky basketball game because of this. he said that on the floor. the point i'm getting to is we change the rules so if you want to stop the senate, you have to be there. you get one quorum call, that's it. you better be there. if you're not we're moving on to business. that really puts some pressure on those who just want to stop things and we've seen 400 filibusters. we need more, i hope we don't but if we do, i think we can muster the democrats to bring the constitutional option up again. >> bill: quickly what are -- you come from chicago. i saw mayor rahm emanuel again deploring the easy access and availability of guns in chicago and the huge murder rate there. what are the chances we'll see some gun control legislation through the senate? >> i think we can get some things through. what i -- talked to my pollster,

jeff guerin. universal background checks widely accepted by all political parties. putting an end to the ammunition clips with 30, 100 rounds in them widely accepted. the idea of moving toward mental health counseling, identifying those who might be unstable. wide support for that. where we have the breakdowns on assault weapons. i strongly support dianne feinstein. what she's trying to do. that will be the most controversial part. >> bill: yes. senator, you mentioned you've been in the senate for 17 years. that's when we met. so senator it has been a good 17 years. we're both older and i hope wiser. >> and a little grayer. >> bill: exactly. good to talk to you. >> thanks a lot. >> bill: great guy. dick durbin. assistant senate majority leader. went to his junior senator barack obama, and said hey barack what the hell, this

could be your time dude. go for it. he did. there we go. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me.

the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. 12 minutes before the top of the hour. here on the "full court press." good to talk to senator dick durbin. in the next hour, we'll be joined in studio by senator jeff merkley from oregon, rising star in the democratic party and the

united states senate. and then eleanor smeal from the feminist majority will be along to talk about women in combat. before we get back to the issues of the day, here you go. i'm telling you stories about identity theft keep popping up. this one a former middle school teacher has been sentenced to -- get this, five years in prison for using one of her children's social security numbers to obtain credit accounts that she couldn't pay back. stealing your kid's i.d.? that's pretty low! but so you need to be protective against members of your own family. i'm protected with lifelock ultimate. encourage you to look into the same. it is most comprehensive i.d. theft protection out there. even covers your bank accounts. of course, lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. call now. you mention press 60 and you'll get 60 riske-free days of

lifelock ultimate identity theft protection. if you're not happy give them a call within another 60 days and cancel to get a full refund. see lifelock.com for details. 1-800-356-5967. lifelock ultimate. peter, out in the social media world. >> we're getting a lot of reaction to the interview that you just did with senator dick durbin. a lot of people have a lot of questions that they would like answered. that maybe we don't have the answers for but they're asking us at bpshow at bpshow. >> bill: we'll get answers and come back. >> jb stone says i think the proposed reforms by bipartisan group have many loopholes and unanswered questions. what about the back taxes? in other words how are these immigrants going to pay? >> bill: as senator durbin said, they're going to have to pay -- how that is calculated will be determined as they write

the legislation. >> scott thrash says will reform pass in the senate when you have 1950s-style republicans. fred wilder says when was the last time a republican kept their word on any issue of major importance in the last four years? and aria says the g.o.p. are opportunists. they don't care about immigration reform. they care about the votes. >> bill: well, that's true. they have made it clear the only reason they're doing this, which is what i don't like about this plan the only reason they say they're doing it is because they know they got their ass whooped in 2012 in november. and they want to pretend to latinos that they really do care about them. but you missed -- my favorite story of the day. we mentioned yesterday that sarah palin dumped by fox news. she has been paid a million dollars a year to be a contributor to fox news. so dylan buyers on politico

reports, somebody figured it out. that last year, sarah palin made 151 appearances on fox news. >> mm-hmm. >> bill: for which she was paid $1 million. she uttered 189,221 words. >> who would count all of those words? >> bill: because they wanted to calculate and they got there. she was paid $15.85 per word. >> oh. >> every time she says you betcha that's $30. >> bill: well, i don't know. is that two words or three? >> betcha is a contraction. that's right. >> bill: i'm not sure. yeah. now, what they did not calculate is how many of the words of the 189,221 words she uttered made any sense at all. >> exactly.

a million dollars. my other favorite story of the day is that these are the things that attract my attention. queen beatrix of the netherlands has announced she is stepping down. she is 75. in a few days. she has been queen for 33 years. her son wilhelm her eldest son, is like 45 so she's going to step down and he will become the king. and i'm sure that -- [royal music playing] >> that's the other queen. my point. i'm sure prince charles made a phone call last night and said hey, mum did you hear what beatrix is doing? >> have you heard the news, mummy? >> bill: don't you think this might be something you might consider? mummy, if it's okay for wilhelm why isn't it okay for me,

charles, don't you think? you know what? elizabeth is never stepping down. >> no way. no way. >> poor charles. >> bill: i think -- >> maybe he'll move to the netherlands. have a shot there. >> i think prince william has a better chance than papa charles. we'll come back and tell what you the president is up to. looking forward to greeting senator jeff merkley at the top of the next hour. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: three minutes to go before the top of the hour. senator jeff merkley from oregon in studio with us at the top of the next hour. and following him in studio, eleanor shaquille shaquille o'neal, president of the feminist majority talking schedules. i'm also also going to be on current tv tonight with jennifer granholm, former governor of michigan, of course, and host of "the war room." that's at 6:00 eastern. and on the president's schedule today, one big event. gone a long way to make his speech out to las vegas but on the important issue, white house announcing the president will speak about immigration reform. the need to fix our broken immigration system so that it is fairer for and helps grow the middle class by ensuring that everybody plays by the same rules. he leaves the white house at 9:20.

leaves andrews air force base at 9:35 arrives in las vegas gives the speech there at 11:55 a.m. las vegas time. then back here to washington, arriving back at the white house at 9:20 tonight. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: my fellow americans great to see you today. good morning. it is tuesday january 29. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. coming to you live every corner of this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill in

washington, d.c. and bringing you the news of the day and taking your calls at 1-866-55-press. the big news of the day yesterday, a group of eight senators, four democrats, in our republicans introducing bold, new comprehensive immigration reform including a path to citizenship. that's the good news. we need it. we should have done it a long time ago. the bad news is the only reason we're doing it today is not because republicans think it's the right thing to do but republicans think they need it. they know they need it. after losing so badly. the latino vote in november 2012. the question, why should we do immigration reform just to help republicans? or should we? we'll talk about that and a whole lot more here but first we take a little time out to get the latest. today's current news update, she's got it. lisa ferguson out in los angeles. good morning. >> hey bill, good morning everyone. sources say senator rand paul wants to ban sending f-16

fighter jets to egypt. he told that to a group of conservative donors during a closed door meeting yesterday and "buzzfeed" picked up on that story last night. last year, lockheed martin received $1.3 billion in military aid from the government and used some of that money on fighter jets for egypt. now paul's come out against that practice in the past and now bud feed's -- "buzzfeed"'s source plans on filing a bill bang that kind of jet. paul is catering to jewish voters and evangelical groups both staunchly pro israel. the senator visited israel earlier this month and said any attack there is also an attack against the united states. all signs he's beefing up his credentials and is seriously considering a run for president in 2016. many hoping hillary clinton wills think about a run. still a few years away but a george washington university professor is already starting a super pac backing a potential

2016 bid for clinton. the pac is called ready for hillary and belongs to professor black. she told the senator for public integrity she's starting out with a small group of skilled and dedicated workers who support both obama and clinton. we're back with more bill after the break. stay with us. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

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as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. with chantix and with the support system it worked. it worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: senator chuck schumer says he wants an apology from beyonce. says he hired her to sing, not to lip-synch. we'll see how that goes. good morning everybody. i think he's got an easier chance of getting immigration reform passed.

it is tuesday january 29. great to see you today. this is the "full court press." coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station. if you're lucky enough to have one. also on current tv. all across this great land of ours from our studio here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. great to see you today. look forward to hearing from you. you can join the conversation any time. tell us what these issues mean to you by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. go on twitter. give us your thoughts on twitter at bpshow. peter ogborn will be following you there. also on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. and we're very pleased and honored to welcome to the studio for this next half hour the senator from oregon, senator jeff merkley. a rising star in the democratic party. doing a good job for the good people of oregon.

>> thank you. it is good to be here. >> bill: i have to thank you. my son and daughter-in-law and two grandsons who live in your great state. so i spend part of my christmas holidays in bend, oregon. >> spectacular city. >> bill: it is. really great. we did some skiing up on mt. bachelor. it is a great part of the world. a very -- at one time, was the fastest-growing city in oregon. >> it was before the 2008 economic collapse. they were hit very hard. >> bill: they seem to be bouncing back though. >> starting to come back. >> bill: oregon generally economy doing okay? >> well, not doing well yet. still substantial unemployment and so very gradual. very gradual recovery. >> bill: senator you are -- you are joined here of course or joining team press. with us every morning peter ogborn and dan henning. >> hey hey. >> good morning. >> bill: phil backert has the phones. it is a special day today senator. it is a big birthday day for get

this oprah winfrey. >> hey. >> bill: for paul ryan. and for our videographer, behind that door there, cyprian bowlding. so, in honor of cyprian's birthday, we have a special guest joining us this morning. ♪ this is your birthday song ♪ ♪ it doesn't last too long ♪ ♪ hey ♪♪ >> bill: we keep john boehner standing by at any time. so senator, i want to get right to it with you. this is this week's edition of the new yorker. i'm reading it last night. ezra klein has a story here, the political scene that says let's talk. it is all about the filibuster. this one sentence here. shortly after the 2010 mid-term elections, a group of frustrated, democratic senate freshmen led by jeff merkley of oregon and tom udall of new mexico mounted an

unexpectedly serious campaign against the filibuster. now, didn't succeed in getting rid of it. what do you think about the deal that we did get? >> it has a couple of positive aspects. one is that the senate made a decision the status quo is unacceptable. we have to take on the dysfunction of the senate. the second is that it has several tools that may prove useful, a couple different ways to approach the motion to proceed to get on to a bill. slightly improved path to get to conference committee. and most importantly most substantively, it has reduced hours after you get debate closed for the amount of time spent on nominations. but realize -- i see these as modest steps, steps in the right direction but i expect it to be far short of the systematic changes we need to make to take on the secret silent filibuster which is paralyzing the senate. >> bill: two thoughts on that. one, i wanted to ask you about the silent filibuster.

few days ago former majority leader tom daschle was our guest. he said he thought the most -- one single most important thing they could do is if people want to filibuster, damn it, make them filibuster. >> make them talk. >> bill: we didn't do that. >> we sure didn't. heart of the talking filibuster which says if 41 or more senators say they want more debate, they have to debate. it is really -- it's really a form of unanimous consent. that is you have a situation where somebody will say -- consent to go to a final vote and all 100 senators have to agree. in this case, to get to a final vote, all 100 senators have to say i have nothing left to say and i'm willing to be quiet and at that point, you go to a final vote. but that compels people to spend time and energy which right now they can throw clog up the works, if you will, without spending any time and energy and without being visible without

making their case before their colleagues and the america people. all the american people see is the quorum call. >> bill: there was also the alternative path which would have been a not -- inviting republicans to join but if they didn't all you needed at this early -- these early days are the first day or whatever of the new session any new session of congress is 51 votes to change the rules, right? people call that -- that's according to the constitution. some people call it the nuclear option. i don't know why. what was wrong with that? >> well, tom udall has been very clear in helping carry this -- the leadership of this and talking about the constitutional option. and he would distinguish it from the nuclear option. i certainly agree with him. this is an action taken under the constitution. >> bill: right. >> it is absolutely appropriate to adjust your rules to make the senate function better. this is not being done in the middle of the game. this as the nuclear option was

that term from 2005. and it's not taking away anyone's rights. it does not at all silence majority. it is not a power grab. it says basically you -- in exercising your rights, you have to exercise them. that's the minimum expectation. it is way most america thinks it works anyway. they feel why should any one person be able to disrupt the work in the senate and make no public statement no public presence, no public effort to do so. and so since america thinks it works that way and since it should work that way, let's make it so. >> bill: so did you vote for this compromise plan? >> yes. i did. >> bill: why? >> i voted for it because it was tiny steps. modest steps in the right direction. and so i couldn't object if you will, that any of it was a mistake. i am concerned about how a couple of pieces will work out in action. but the way it was packaged into two pieces, i thought each piece on its own was a step in the right direction.

>> bill: is it sort of like let's wait and see how this works and if this doesn't improve the process two years from now, we can maintaining another bite at it? you and tom udall, is that what you're thinking? >> yes. absolutely. what has really changed because so many groups weighed in with members of the senate. saying listen, if you want all important things for working people, for progressive causes to be stopped, then don't reform the senate. but if you care about these things, you've gotta take a bold change. so when folks said okay, well, we'll go with the direction that's being recommended to us by our leadership of these more modest steps bipartisan path, okay, we can go with that but it is a test. and if it doesn't work out, if we don't solve the paralysis we want to be back here in the battle. when i heard so many of the members of the caucus expressing that sentiment it made me realize -- the collective group has shifted its thinking and is

ready to say yes we have this responsibility to make the senate work. >> bill: they recognize it is broken and something has to be done. >> yes. >> bill: so we'll see how that plays out i guess over the next two years. final question on this, senator tom harkin was quoted as saying that if you didn't really fix -- i don't know how senator harkin -- you knew whether he voted for this or not ahead of time. if we didn't really fix the filibuster president obama might as well take the next four years off because he was not going to be abe to get anything through the senate. now with this measure, do you think that will improve the chances of getting some things through the senate? >> i think the changes were so modest. they didn't really change the filibuster on amendments or on a bill as a whole. it won't help us really get an agenda complete. i want to note by the way that i was deeply saddened to see that tom harkin -- >> bill: weren't we all. i wondered how much the

filibuster battle played into that. frustration over the paralysis. >> bill: he's working on it, as you know, a long, long time. he's a great leader and a great voice on so many issues. >> we can think about how many things were stopped the dream act with the filibuster, the disclose act getting rid of secrecy and campaign donations closing the tax loopholes for big oil companies. the president's job proposals all were defeated by the filibuster. >> bill: not by -- >> they were often defeated in silence. in other words folks voted on the disclose act for more debate. they did not want to be on the floor defending secrecy. i think we would have gotten the 60th vote to be able to proceed. because the floor is so paralyzed, there are so many bills that never made it to the floor. good pipp work done in committee. bills never got to the floor to be debated. >> bill: not to mention the nominations. >> the nominations side, it has been a disaster. essentially with the senate

using advise and consent. responsibility on the constitution to deeply damage both the judicial branch and the executive branch. that was not the way it was envisioned by our constitutional authors. >> bill: right. senator jeff merkley our guest in studio on the "full court press." he would be glad to hear from you at 1-866-55-press. your question on the -- your questions or comments on the filibuster. so senator, the big news of the day, of course, senator dick durbin was here a few minutes ago on our news line talking about -- he's a member of the gang of eight so-called. this is -- this is a big issue that president is pushing and now you've got this group of eight bipartisan senators pushing. what do you see the importance of immigration reform and the chances for getting something done this year? >> i think it is very important and relatively good chances that this point it has been a number of years that the bipartisan evert has been on vacation, if you will. and senator mccain has now come back to the conversation.

lindsey graham has come back to the conversation and the result of this recent election have really changed the dynamic and motivation on certainly republican side of the aisle to tackle this. >> bill: it is an issue -- we think about it for the southwestern states perhaps and coming from california is a big issue from california. but i know having spent a good time in your good state right my son mark, working at a clinic in hood river probably 80% of his patients in the clinic there were seasonable workers, coming from mexico. he spoke spanish almost all day long in that clinic. some status, right for people -- families that are here this 11 million families and for agricultural workers who come here. we have to fix that. >> to take on a situation comprehensively with our borders, with our employers with the path to citizenship they called it a narrow but defined path. that captures the sentiment from

the public as i've heard from the public. and also taking on this issue of how many folks we train in america and have huge technical expertise. doctorates then we send them eyebrowed to compete with us. so that piece of the puzzle as well. >> bill: yeah. so the idea here is one comprehensive piece of legislation. which hasn't been written yet. that's going to be the tough part. >> set of principles are on the table. >> bill: senate principles on the table. easier to agree or easier to write certainly than a piece of legislation. immigration reform, is it going to happen this year? the filibuster, did we get enough? should we have pushed for more? senator jeff merkley is here. we'll take a quick break. your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

show, to be able to come away armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right now 23 minutes after the hour. eleanor sneal joining us in studio in the next segment. right now we're joined by senator jeff merkley. we have to call you the junior senator. >> yes. >> bill: ron wyden would appreciate that from the great state of oregon. before we get to your calls peter, what's on the social media world? >> we're tweeting at bpshow at bpshow. really quickly. aria, frequent tweeter of ours says tell senator merkley i voted for him and tell him i said hello. she wants to add "go ducks." you were talking about the --

>> bill: it is early morning on the west coast too. they're loyal fans there. >> you were talking about the retirement of senator harkin. i don't blame any lawmaker for calling it quits right now. the filibuster is the death of true democracy. so why even bother? and -- >> bill: senator harkin fought the good fight for a long time. >> jr jacobs says the problem with the logic on the current filibuster legislation is two years from now is a long time. we cannot trust the republicans to keep their word. you can find us on twitter at bpshow. >> bill: okay. senator, wayne calling from chicago. >> caller: good morning, mr. press. good morning mr. senator. i just have a question. now, the changes that were made with the filibuster reform are basically cosmetic changes. the republicans are going to be able to do the same thing that

they did the previous four years. so they're going to be able to stop things like job bills and things like that. >> bill: what's your question? >> caller: whatever they want to stop with, will be stopped. so how are we going to progress when the democrats didn't take a stand when they needed to? >> bill: we got your question, wayne. thank you. senator, i'm sure you heard that one before. >> wayne, you're absolutely right, the secret, silent filibuster that has hamstrung us is still alive and well despite the changes, the changes -- i would say they're a little more than cosmetic. they have a more straightforward path to a conference committee. that's a good thing. few more tools to get on to a bill. we'll see if that changes the negotiating dynamic at the front end, not clear that it will. certainly reduced hours on nominations is a positive. but your core point you're absolutely right. that's why it was fighting for the talking filibuster. also for al franken's concept of

going to a 41 to extend debate, 60 to close debate. that would have put those who are absent on the opposite side of the ledger. if you're absent, you count for extending debate. you should have 41 who affirmatively say we want more debate. when they vote in that fashion you can hold the group accountable to be there debating. >> senator, this was really -- tread carefully here -- a generational thing. it appears to me, in the sense that those were really pushing for more -- greater reform or more robust reform. you, tom udall tammy baldwin. i don't want to forget tom harkin because he was there a long time but this round. and those who were sort of resisting were those who had been there a lot longer except again for tom harkin. >> i don't know that it's so much generational. for example barbara mikulski, new share of appropriations was very very supportive of the boldest possible reform. here she is head of a committee

that -- 24 appropriation bills only one has gotten to the floor. if we don't reform the filibuster, the appropriations committee can't do its work. also, the reason that i think both tom and i felt very comfortable leading this charge is that we saw the senate decades ago. and i came as a 19-year-old to d.c. as an intern for senator hatfield. i saw the senate in motion. at that point in time, there was no television. there was no e-mail so if a bill came up, if you were assigned to that bill, you went to the floor. i was very fortunate the bill i was assigned to, the faction reform act of 1976 was on the floor. so for a couple of weeks, i was there following the debate and running down after every amendment to brief senator hatfield. i saw a legislature in action like you wouldn't expect. amendments from all directions. and basically an up or down decisions. >> bill: you knew how it could work and should work again. senator, it is great to have you in the studio. thank you so much.

thank you for your leadership on this and many other issues. we didn't get to half the ones i wanted to talk about. >> great to be with you. >> bill: jeff merkley, you can follow him on twitter at senjeffmerkley. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey it is 33 minutes after the hour here on the "full court press." this tuesday morning january 29. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital and our studio on capitol hill. we're brought to you today by

the aft the american federation of teachers and they're great leader, randi weingarten. making a big difference every day in the classrooms of america. you bet! you can find out more about their good work at aft.org. randi weingarten, a great demale leader of this country. we're joined by another eleanor is president of the feminist majority. good friend of the program. great to have you back in studio. >> good to be here. >> bill: how are you doing? >> very exciting time. >> bill: yeah, indeed. >> bill: you've always got a lot of battles to fight. i want to ask you about the big announcement. leon panetta. the legacy he's leaving as defense secretary at the request of the joint chiefs. lifting the ban on women in combat. you've been working on this for a long time. >> real long time. started this fight with the equal rights amendment fight. in the late '70s and early 80s because basically they

kept saying we don't deserve equal rights amendment because if you don't have equal responsibilities, you can't have equal rights. you couldn't serve in combat. i don't know if you remember but jimmy carter had called for a draft registration. not the draft. and that was definitely -- only for males. 18 to 25. then of course it said women can't register. so anyway, the national organization for women took it as president that we should register. we should be eligible. it should be based on ability not on gender. and that -- i brought in the brief from 1981 and those arguments -- >> bill: hold it up. this was the brief of the national organization for women in front of the united states supreme court on this issue and the date is october term 1980.

this is '81 i guess. >> it was actually filed i think in march of '81 but it was for that term. so it has been a long time. and i think that it just shows that you have to be persistent and we were a little ahead of our times but right now it looks like there will be no protests and it's going toed by the joint -- going to be supported by the joint chiefs of staff. the reality on the ground is women are serving in combat. they have been denied promotions and opportunities. >> bill: right. i think it was like 235,000 new jobs women can apply for. important jobs because as you point out unless they do have some combat experience, they can't move up the ranks. they were serving in combat but not getting the credit for it. >> it has resulted in a quota system against women because they couldn't serve in so many jobs. you could only take so many in. and we have a volunteer army. there has been a cutoff and

women are now about 14% 15% of the armed services. that number will go up. >> bill: so some of the battles, you just gotta keep fighting right? you never get it the first time around. boy, we've learned that on so many fronts. >> it is so terrible how long it takes. fight for the obvious. the obvious does win. reality wins eventually. >> bill: i'll tell you final point on this issue that we, last week, as a guest had congresswoman tammy duckworth. if anybody proves that women are capable of serving in combat with distinction and sacrificing so much as she did right, it is tammy duckworth. >> there are so many women who have served. she served. now she's in congress. but how can they deny -- i mean the fact they denied this reality for so long! to our detriment. to the nation's detriment and to women's detriment. >> bill: by talking about an issue that should be automatic. you and i might think but takes

a long time. the renewal of the violence against women act. which we could not get through the senate last year because -- and you were in studio. we talked about this. because people wanted to extend it to certain groups of women who were not yet already covered. >> it went to the senate. it was the house that was -- the house put restrictions on it. and cut back with the senate -- what the senate was doing in four areas. students. full coverage for students. especially in college campuses. a portion of it. they didn't want that. they didn't want immigrants and native americans and the lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender community. essentially, they wanted to cut out of it protections in this act should be protecting against victims of crime. >> bill: my understanding is this under pat leahy is moving now legislation in the senate.

i believe there's a republican again, bipartisan support for this including these categories. >> that's right. >> bill: the full bill. any idea that it will -- >> he's also made it his top priority. of the whole year. so i'm hoping it will pass. it might even be on the floor on thursday. >> bill: whoa. >> it is moving very quickly. >> bill: prospects any better in the house? >> same bill has been introduced in the house. has 170 cosponsors. it is moving up the by the hour, the number of cosponsors. >> when you look at how republicans have reacted to the election and they saw that hispanics essentially had a big hand in losing the election for mitt romney, women also voted for barack obama. >> big gender gap. >> huge gender gap. >> bill: romney got the white male vote. >> but republicans -- >> bill: that's all they got! old white males. i'm sorry.

>> republicans seemed to have learned their lesson when it comes to hispanics. they're saying we have to get immigration reform done. they have to work on that. but they haven't really seemed to have got than message with women. there is still a lot of legislation out there, very anti-woman and more and more keeps getting introduced. >> war on women continues. they seem to keep on stepping into it. no. they're not cutting back. the odd thing is they push for an immigration bill right now. remember the cutoff protection for immigrant women in the house, that was one of the problems. so it isn't -- it's on multiple levels. we're wondering -- we're not wondering -- this bill should pass. it should cover the entire gamut. are they going to say that they're for immigration and not for immigrant women? >> bill: good point. they can't have it both ways. if they're really going to show they've turned the corner on immigration, they have to allow women to be part of the violence against women act when it gets

to the house. in terms of they can't seem to have learned their lesson, in new mexico, reported this week, unbelievable legislation i think by a woman. >> that's the tragedy of it. >> bill: in new mexico saying, in effect, that you could not have an abortion if you were a victim of rape or incest because they need that as evidence against the rapist. >> can you believe this? >> bill: did i get it right? >> that's right. it is unbelievable she's to be an incubator for evidence. imagine an incest victim, a child maybe be forced, tampering with evidence. by the way it has a three-year prison sentence. if you had it. so it's criminalizing abortion for those -- that are most people agree on rape and incest. the numbers are off the chart on

both of them that they should have access. so basically it is unbelievable. >> bill: this is another todd akin kind of -- >> that's right. >> bill: mourdock. >> they keep wanting to do something about rape that punishes the woman. she said she did not want to punish the woman but what kind of nonsense is this? it's like she has -- the woman is a vessel. she isn't a human being. someone should save evidence? did she never hear of the rape kit? >> bill: that's your evidence. the evidence is right there at the time. in fact, one of the things that has been so sad about the rape kit, we know that if a woman is offered a rape kit, it can save the evidence right at the time but then they're not processing them. they've made that a political fight. so it shows that she doesn't even know anything about rape kits obviously. >> bill: what i thought was just unbelievable is her

explanation was that this would -- or defense i guess proposed legislation is it would deter rapists because if they knew right, there was going to be a baby and she was going to have a bib i and not van -- not have an abortion, they would not commit rape. >> hello. >> bill: your calls welcome on any of these issues we're talking about. >> the evidence is dna. maybe i should explain this. a rape kit gets the dna of the sperm and of the man immediately at the time. so you don't need to wait nine months to make a woman go through a pregnancy for dna sample. >> bill: then test the dna from the baby. eleanor smeal here. you can follow their good work at feminist.org. or give us a call. your questions welcome on any of the issues we're talking about here on the "full court press." 1-866-55-press our toll free number. >> announcer: heard around the

country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

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>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: here we are. 13 minutes before the top of the hour here on the "full court press." eleanor smeal, president of the feminist majority, our guest in studio. back to your calls your questions and our conversation particularly about that women in combat and other issues. feminist majority is working on these days. but first, this story caught my attention.

how disgusting. an army veteran in his 80s now battling identity thieves. somebody stole his disabled vet's identity then rerouted his mail to another address and were able to steal his veterans administration, his v.a. disability checks. there it is. identity theft once again. i stress how important it is to protect yourself against it. i've got the protection from lifelock ultimate. encourage you to look into it. it is the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection out there. and available. but of course, they can't protect you or your bank accounts if you're not a member. if you call now and mention press 60, they'll give you 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identity theft protection and during the 60 riske-free face you're not happy, call and cancel. they'll give you a full refund. see lifelock.com for details then give them a call at 1-800-356-5967.

for lifelock ultimate. as we're discussing the issues here, peter is capturing the comments on twitter and facebook. >> indeed. one quick story i just wanted to get in, a little bit of breaking news. apple has just announced they're releasing a new ipad. >> bill: what? >> the same model. but you can now get it with 128 gaig ga bites of -- gigabytes of storage. >> bill: the big one or the little one? >> the regular sized ipad. the one that they currently make. you can get it in a bigger size available in one week. it will be $800 if you want just the wi-fi version. >> bill: too many choices. >> we're tweeting at bpshow on twitter. diane brook says a new mexico legislation we were just talking about, has anyone asked new mexico who will be responsible for the evidence? will they support the child for life?

something tells me no. >> bill: the evidence. >> the child is the evidence. >> bill: a special new class of citizens, right? oh my god. >> good news is the democrats are in charge of both houses so it probably won't pass. >> bill: in new mexico. but there are too many states -- >> this is terrible. we're facing -- they're passing these trap laws which makes the clinics have to be like a surgery center or hospital. totally unnecessary. these are family planning clinics and they do more than family planning. they're an inexpensive way of getting cancer screening breast cancer testing, pap smears, it is an entry level gateway facilities. they're putting them out of business for the sole purpose of closing abortion clinics. they're pushing in mississippi

and kansas, wichita again. they're trying to reopen dr. tiller's clinic and they are obviously in as much trouble as they could. it is serious. the attack on women's healthcare is continuing. >> bill: let's say hello to clay calling from goldsboro maine. good morning clay. thanks. >> caller: good morning. miss smeal -- >> yes? >> caller: i'm very interested in the opportunities of somebody who is right by their father or whomever. do they have other opportunities to protect themselves, rape kits in other states or does the federal law have some form of protection? >> bill: for victims of rape set by her father. thanks, claudia for the call. >> rape is a crime that is regulated more by the state. we want the violence against women act is it helps to fight abuse of women.

of all kinds. violence of all kinds. it does help federally. but most rape laws are at the state level. the odd thing about what's happening with so many of the right wing legislators is that they won't get off -- they want to tamper with you might as well say, the rights of women. the victim of rape. and force her to carry a child to term. even though the data -- public opinion is off the wall. most people think that the woman should be able to make her own decision. or girl. >> bill: just about a minute left. so we've made a lot of progress -- i mean this women in combat. president signing the lilly ledbetter act. it looked like we're going to get the violence against women act renewed. what are still the major challenges? >> equal pay is still a big challenge. >> bill: still today? >> oh, my god, yes. not only do they -- we don't get

equal pay depending on what statistics you use. somewhere between 77 cents to 81 cents. >> bill: unbelievable. >> we want the paycheck fairness act which was reintroduced by the way. it was filibustered in the senate by republicans. we're pushing that big time. and senator harkin's introducing a fair pay act. why so many different ones? remember, lilly lilly ledbetter only restored the 1964 act which the roberts court had gutted. but we want to go forward and we want stronger protections and regulation of people who cheat underpaying women. >> bill: unbelievable in this year 2013 -- >> still fighting for basic federal law to allow a woman to fight sex discrimination and pay and benefits and promotion and hiring yes. it is still very much an issue and i believe we can pass the paycheck fairness act and maybe even the fair pay act but

definitely the paycheck fairness act unless republicans want to just block it. which is what they did the last time which was a filibuster. >> bill: you know, it reminds me wasn't so long ago last week the president's inaugural address where he said this is a classic example, that our challenge is to take that promise of equality of the constitution and the declaration of independence and make sure it's real today for all americans. men and women. >> by the way we're still not in the constitution and that fight was -- we're going to reintroduce that. we haven't even passed the treaty to guarantee fighting off forms of sex discrimination. every other major country in the world has passed. >> bill: that's why we need the feminist majority. that's why we need eleanor smeal on the front lines. thanks for coming in. feminist.org is the web site. i'll be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: on this tuesday january 29 a quick parting shot about that immigration reform legislation. outline of which was announced yesterday. both good news and bad. good news that we're finally tackling an issue which should have been resolved a long, long time ago. democrats have been pushing for it for a long time. the bad news is the only reason we're doing it today it looks like we could get it done today is not because republicans believe it's the right thing to do but because republicans know that they got their ass kicked, losing the latino vote, 71-27 in the last election.